Astel
by Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Senegal, France, 2021
synopsis
It’s October, the end of the rainy season in Fouta, an isolated region in the north of Senegal. Astel accompanies her father every day in the bush. Together, they look after their herd of cows. But one day, in the middle of the desert, the meeting between the young girl and a shepherd disrupts Astel and her father’s peaceful daily routine.
about the director
Ramata-Toulaye Sy is a French-Senegalese film director and screenwriter. She was born in Bezons, Paris to Senegalese parents. She studied at La Fémis in Paris, graduating in 2015. She lived in Dakar, Senegal for several years after graduation. Sy’s 2021 short film Astel was the winner of the Share Her Journey Award at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, and the SACD Award and a Special Jury Prize at the 2022 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
Sy was a co-writer of the feature films Sibel and Our Lady of the Nile (Notre-Dame-du-Nil), before making Astel as her first directorial project.
